Even though I’m on a bit of a pie kick right now, and even though I know that you can tackle homemade pie crust to bake a delicious and beautiful pie from scratch, I did promise that I would be sharing more quick scratch baking recipes in time for the holidays. So today I have a real winner for you! Apple Pie Bars with Salted Caramel Drizzle!

This quick and easy dessert recipe has all the flavor of apple pie broken down into four mouth-watering layers:

Brown sugar shortbread crust. Replacing pie crust with shortbread means that we still have all the delicious buttery flavor we expect from our pie crust, but we can make these bars in way less time! Plus the shortbread gives these bars a more solid base, so you could eat them with your hands and without a plate – like a true bar – if you wanted to. Brown sugar gives this shortbread crust a little extra something.

Apple pie filling. Sliced apples, cinnamon, sugar, salt, and a bit of all-purpose flour (to help with thickening) are all you need to create an apple-forward filling with a hint of cinnamon flavor. I recommend using firm apples for this recipe and choosing one sweet and one tart apple (I used Honeycrisp and Granny Smith).

Streusel topping. The classic streusel topping – made with flour, brown sugar, butter, plus a dash of cinnamon and salt – is for all you crumb pie lovers out there. And because I have a ‘go big or go home’ philosophy when it comes to crumb toppings, there is seriously thick layer of streusel on top of these bars.

Salted caramel sauce. No explanation needed. Technically this layer is optional, but I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t want to add it! You can find my recipe for salted caramel sauce right here.

Now unlike apple pie, these apple pie bars take just 60 minutes to make from start to finish! I love that this recipe is quick, easy, and stress-free, so you could bake them for fun on a random weeknight, but that the bars are 100% tasty and impressive enough to be served as a Thanksgiving dessert! Bonus: They can easily be made a day ahead, freeing up your oven on Thanksgiving day for the turkey and all those sides!

When a dessert is this simple and delicious, you really have no reason not to make it!

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray an 8×8 pan lightly with cooking spray** and set aside.

Make the shortbread crust. Add flour, brown sugar, and butter to the bowl of a food processor. Process until the mixture becomes a very crumbly dough.

Pour the dough into the prepared pan and gently press the dough into the bottom of the pan to create a solid crust. Make sure the crust reaches all the way into the edges and corners of the pan and that there are no holes in the crust.

Bake the crust until it’s a light golden brown, about 15 minutes, then remove the pan from the oven but keep the oven on. While the crust bakes, prepare the apple filling and streusel topping.

Prepare the apple filling. Core the apples, peel them using a vegetable peeper or a small, sharp knife, and slice each apple into 16 wedges. Place the apples in a medium bowl and add the sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt. Stir until the apples are well coated. Set aside.

Make the streusel topping. In a medium bowl, whisk to combine the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Pour the melted butter over the dry ingredients and stir with a fork until a crumbly mixture forms.

Place the apple slices over the par baked crust so that all of the crust is covered. Do not add any liquid from the bottom of the bowl to the pan. Crumble the streusel topping over the apple slices. Return the pan to the to the 350°F oven and bake for another 30 minutes or until the streusel topping becomes golden.

Let the pie bars cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. To serve, slice into bars and drizzle each with salted caramel sauce.

Notes

Store any leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

*As I do with my apple pie, I recommend a mixture of apples for this recipe to give the bars a more complex apple flavor. You’ll want to use only firm apples (no Macintosh apples) for this recipe. I used one Honeycrisp apple (sweet flavor, firm texture) and one Granny Smith apple (tart flavor, firm texture) for these bars.

**You may also choose to line the baking pan with parchment before spraying it with cooking spray. Lining the pan with parchment will allow you to easily remove the bars from the pan by pulling up on the edges of the parchment. I opted not to use parchment for a cleaner look so that I could serve the bars from the same pan that I baked them in, and I was able to able to easily remove the bars after slicing one in the pan.